


Shouto Todoroki Joins the Supervillain Dads Club

by fullmetal anime (sunkelles)



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Canon Typical Violence, Gen, Minor Spitfire, The Justice League, The Team Young Justice, Todoroki Enji | Endeavor's Bad Parenting, Young Justice Season One, minor supermartian
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-07
Packaged: 2019-10-05 07:02:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17320238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunkelles/pseuds/fullmetal%20anime
Summary: Endeavor has tried his whole hero career to get an invitation to join the Justice League. When considering new candidates for League membership, Batman suggests they invite Endeavor. He wants to keep an eye on a hero that he doesn't trust and offer Endeavor's son and sidekick a place on the team that Robin and the other young heroes have founded.Endeavor jumps at the chance to join the Justice League but might end up regretting it when Shouto befriends Artemis Crock, a girl with a supervillain for a father and more similarities to Shouto than either of them know.





	1. A Formal Invitation

**Author's Note:**

> okay so. i really shouldn't be posting another wip at this point but i just couldn't help it? shouto deserves to join young justice and season three just dropped and i had to make it happen. hopefully my descriptions are done well enough that you don't have to be familiar with both fandoms to enjoy it
> 
> this chapter directly borrows its structure and some of its lines from young justice season 1 episode 22 agendas. the fic will primarily focus on shouto joining young justice and his relationships with his new friends and teammates, primarily artemis though. i love artemis crock with my whole heart 
> 
> a cheat sheet for current members of the league
> 
> Superman  
> Batman  
> Wonder Woman  
> The Flash  
> Green Lantern- John Stewart  
> Aquaman  
> Martian Manhunter  
> Green Arrow  
> Hawkman  
> Hawkwoman  
> Zatara/Dr. Fate  
> Captain Atom  
> Black Canary  
> Green Lantern- Hal Jordan  
> Captain Marvel  
> Red Tornado

Four tables are situated in a circle around the main room of The Watchtower. All sixteen members of The Justice League have gathered to discuss possible new members and two current members whose credentials have been called into question. Diana has been largely unimpressed with the candidates that have been brought forward. She doubts that Batman’s last suggestion will impress her any more than the last few. She does not have a high opinion of Endeavor. 

Wonder Woman might have high standards, but that’s what she expects of every member of the Justice League: extreme competence and upstanding morality. Heroes should be the best of humanity on every level. Anything less is unacceptable. She stares Batman down, and dares him to make his pitch.

“Our last candidate for League membership is Endeavor,” Batman says. He gestures to the hologram screen in the middle of the tables, and every set of eyes in the room turns to watch.

"He is based in Houston, Texas, and he has the power to manipulate fire." 

Two pictures of the same muscular Japanese man appear on the hologram screen. In one picture he is wearing a black superhero costume with flames coming out of the chest and facial hair literally made of flame. In another, he’s wearing a well-tailored black suit. His bright red hair stands out even more in the picture where he’s not on fire. It looks like a bad dye job, and from what Diana knows about Endeavor a bad dye job seems in character. The man likes standing out, but she knows that’s likely not the case. His eyebrows match the color perfectly, and from what she’s seen of his children, some of them have bits of that red in their hair naturally and they must have gotten it from him.

“Oh I know him,” Captain Marvel says, “he’s the guy who’s famous for his fire powers and not keeping a secret identity.” Batman clicks another button, and and the pictures of Endeavor disappear and instead a short video of Endeavor using his fire powers to stop a runaway train plays.

“Endeavor has been trying to secure a place in the Justice League for years,” Hawkwoman says, “it shows a great dedication to hero work.”

“It shows a great dedication to his _ego,”_ Diana says, “Enji Todoroki refuses to keep a secret identity and does everything he can to increase his fame.” She has never been impressed by Endeavor’s exploits or his applications. She knows that he has a son that he’s already forced into his hero work, but the idea of sidekicks makes Diana nervous enough that she’s tried to avoid seeing anything about the boy entirely.

Actually, she’s just tried to steer clear of coverage of Endeavor altogether.

“Refusing to keep a secret identity _has_ endangered his family,” Flash says, “I remember seeing a report about one of his kids getting held hostage. She almost died.”

“His family is endangering his family as well,” Red Tornado says evenly.

“What do you mean, Tornado?” Black Canary asks.

“Batman,” Red Tornado says, “would you care to elaborate?” Whatever scandal Tornado thinks he’s uncovering, he’s giving Batman the chance to address it himself. It’s a considerate and human action coming from an android.

“I knew this would come up eventually,” Batman says, “you should see this before you consider anything further.” Batman pulls up a set of pictures on the holoport.

Five pictures appear. The first is of an adult woman with a weary look and pure white hair. Then there are four photos of children. The first and probably the oldest is a boy with bright red hair and burn wounds all over his face. The next is a girl who looks around eighteen with bright white hair and a few flecks of red. The middle is a boy who looks around sixteen with hair that’s pure white. She doesn't have time to look at the last picture before Batman blows the picture of the first boy up. 

"What happened to that oldest boy?" Black Canary demands. 

"Endeavor claims that it was an accident with his oldest son's powers. Touya Todoroki ran away from the hospital that he was being treated at for his intense burn wounds practically the moment that he was conscious, so it was impossible for them to question him further. Endeavor was taken at his word." Diana feels her stomach churn. Even if that were the case, that does not speak well of Endeavor as a father. Who runs away the moment that they're able to with burn wounds of that caliber unless they have something to run from? 

"That sounds concerning," Green Arrow says. 

"Are they sure it was the kid's own quirk that did that?" Flash asks, and he sounds terrified. 

"We don't know for sure," Batman says. 

"Then why are we considering him for League membership?" Diana demands. If Batman suspects that this man did that to his own son, this shouldn't even be on the table. Batman clicks a button and shows a hologram of Endeavor's last child.

“This is Endeavor’s youngest son, Shouto. He has not only his father’s manipulation over fire, but manipulation over ice which he inherited from his mother. He’s assisted his father in the field for nearly four years. He’s fairly well known himself in the Texas hero community.”

 _Four years?_ Diana thinks, a little queasy, the boy can’t be any older than fourteen. She’d say that twelve or thirteen would be a safer bet. That would have put him at ten years old when he started at the absolute oldest. Almost as young as Robin was when Batman let him start crime fighting, maybe even younger.

The boy has hair that matches both of his parents’ strange colors with a perfect split between the two down the middle. His eyes are two different colors as well, as if the two different powers flowing through his veins manifested in the two different halves of his body. There’s a discoloration that almost looks like a birthmark around one of his eyes, but the color is too bright and the texture’s not quite right. It almost reminds her of the burn wounds she saw back when the Amazons had to fight off Hades and his hellfire. If she didn’t know any better she’d think that was-

“A burn scar,” Batman says, “from when his mother dumped a kettle of boiling hot tea onto his face.” He clicks a button, and a different photo of Shouto appears. With the closer up photo, it becomes even more obvious what the mark on his face is. It’s also even more obvious that the boy is not smiling.

“His mother did _what_?” Green Arrow asks, his eyes widening.

“She dumped a kettle of boiling tea onto his face,” Batman says, “she is currently at a mental health facility as a result of the incident.”

“Are they sure that it was the mom?” Superman asks, voice low. Diana knows that everyone in the room, except perhaps Captain Marvel who’s a child and Red Tornado who’s an android, picked up on his implication there.

“The authorities confirmed that Endeavor was not even in the state during the accident, and Shouto’s doctors confirmed that the burns were consistent with boiling liquid, not an open flame.” Superman looks visibly relieved to hear that.

“But that does _not_ mean that I trust him,” Batman says, “I would prefer to keep an eye on him.”

“Why would you want to keep an eye on him, he’s a _superhero_ ,” Captain Marvel says, with none of The Wisdom of Solomon but all of The Innocence of a Ten Year Old, “that means that he’s a good guy, right?”

“Things aren’t that simple, Captain Marvel,” Diana says, glaring at Batman, “being a superhero doesn’t ensure that someone is moral.” Batman deserves to feel the full extent of her glare. He’s the one who knew that Billy Batson was a ten year old but gave him the authority and responsibilities of a Justice League member. He kept Captain Marvel’s age a secret for well over a year.

“I guess that makes sense,” Captain Marvel says grudgingly, “Dr. Fate’s still here and he stole Zatara’s body.”

“I did not steal it,” Fate’s booming voice says, along with Zatara’s own, “Zatara gave it to me willingly.”

“While you were holding his daughter hostage,” Captain Marvel grumbles.

“None of this is about Endeavor,” Superman says evenly, “we have already discussed Dr. Fate.”

“Superman is right,” Batman says, which is something Diana hears him say so infrequently that she wonders if she heard that right, “We need to remain on the topic at hand. Endeavor is strong, and he’s good at what he does. That much is certain.”

“And we don’t have any League members stationed in the Southwest,” The Flash adds, “The closest thing we have right now is me in Missouri. We could really use a member down in Texas.”

“I agree,” Hal Jordan says, “and that’s not just because I don’t want to keep flying over from Northern California.”

“Don’t pretend that’s not ninety nine percent of it,” an exasperated John Stewart says. Diana rolls her eyes, but she expected a comment like this. The Green Lanterns always bicker like children.

“Well,” Hal Jordan says, “I’m tired of flying. I bet the Hawks are tired of flying all the way from Northern Indiana whenever there’s a disturbance in Texas and it’s the Flash’s night off.”

“Do not drag us into this,” Hawkwoman says at the same time that Hawkman says, “Yes we are.”

“If I may,” Martian Manhunter says, “Endeavor’s power is fire based, which could be a real asset to the League. We do not have any members with fire based powers, and many alien beings are susceptible to fire, myself included.”

“I agree with Martian Manhunter,” Diana says, “thinking on a purely strategic level, Endeavor’s powers could be good for the League.” She does not think that she approves of Endeavor on a moral level, but on a strategic one, admitting him could be a good move.

“I still don’t think I’d trust him,” Green Arrow says.

“I don’t either,” Batman says, “that’s why I suggested looking at his application for League membership. I think that we can watch him and provide support for his son.”

“You want to admit someone to the League _because_ you don’t trust them? And because you want to influence his young son?” Diana says, her anger thinly concealed in her cold tone, “I suppose that you know what’s best for influencing child superheros, since you indoctrinated Robin into crime fighting at the ripe old age of nine.” No one else in the room would _dare_ to respond to that blow, and Diana waits for Batman to say something.

“Robin needed to help bring the man who murdered his family to justice.”

“So he could turn out like you?”

“So that he wouldn’t.”

“I’m sorry,” Captain Marvel says, butting into uncomfortable adult affairs the way that only a child can, “but what does this have to do with Endeavor’s son?”

“I don’t know for sure what kind of a man Endeavor is,” Batman says, “but I think that we don’t want Shouto ending up like him, either.” Batman takes a deep breath, and then pulls up yet another unsmiling photo of Shouto Todoroki. It’s a candid shot, taken of him and his father on an outing that should for all intents and purposes be a fun father-son trip to the zoo.

Shouto looks like he’d rather be eaten alive by one of Harley Quinn’s hyenas.

“The kid looks miserable,” the Flash says, looking a little sick.

“I’ve been following Shouto for some time now,” Black Canary says, “when we formed the Team and I started doing their training and became their psychiatrist, I thought that it would be smart to look into other young heroes.”

Black Canary looks Batman dead in the eyes, and the concern drips from her voice as she says, “I have never once seen a picture of that boy where he was smiling. Not once.”

“This video was taken after a successful solo rescue using his ice power,” Batman says. There’s a wall of ice separating Shouto Todoroki and another, even smaller child, from a crashing semi truck. The truck does not manage to break through the ice wall, though it makes a large dent and an even larger noise.

Shouto says something to the girl, but the action around them is too loud for them to catch it on camera. There’s tears in her eyes, but she seems comforted.  The little girl has deep black skin and her hair is braided into cornrows with beads at the end. She rushes forward and hugs onto Shouto like velcro.

She hugs him, and then Shouto the unsmiling child _beams._ When she finally breaks the hug, she takes his hand and they start walking, presumably trying to find the girl’s parents. Shouto is still beaming. The moment that Shouto spots his father, the smile evaporates off of his face.

Batman flips through the set of candid photos from the event, detailing Shouto holding the girl’s hand and helping her find her parents. He’s smiling the entire time, until his father finds him and it evaporates as if there was never a smile in the first place.

“I suggest that along with offering Endeavor a place on the Justice League, we offer his son a place on the Team.”

“Endeavor could be a good addition to the League, and it seems like saving people is the only thing that makes that kid happy,” Flash says, “he can save people in a good, stable environment. Maybe even make some friends.”

“Are there any other pictures of where he’s smiling?” Green Arrow asks, sounding concerned.

“Those were the only ones that I could find,” Batman says. While someone not smiling in photos does not mean much (there is not a single photo of Batman smiling on the internet, but she’s seen the way that he looks at Robin), Shouto’s face doesn’t look like the frown in momentary. His neutral face gives the impression that it doesn’t know how to smile or know why it would smile in the first place. If Diana hadn’t seen that radiant smile in that picture after he saved that young girl, she’d think his face wasn’t capable of it.

“We cannot go back in time and undo whatever’s been done to this boy,” Batman says, “but we can provide him with a support network going forward. It’s clear that this boy enjoys saving people. We could give him a better outlet, away from his father.” There are a few murmurs of assent across the room.

“Alright,” Diana says, “I feel we’re ready to come to vote. Are we in agreement?” She’s greeted by a chorus of “ayes”.

In the end, they vote to let Captain Marvel the miracle ten-year old remain in the League along with Dr. Fate the bodysnatcher. They also agree to admit The Atom, Plastic Man, Icon, Red Arrow, and Endeavor. Diana hopes that they made the right decision with that last one. 

 


	2. A Package Deal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shouto wasn't prepared to have Batman and Black Canary show up on his doorstep and offer his dad a place in the Justice League and him a spot on a teenage version.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i would like to say right now that me updating two days in a row is not a regular thing. i had this original chapter written back in september and i'd been sitting on the fic (and the first part of chapter three) wondering what felt wrong. it was the fact that i didn't show the actual invitation scene and skipped straight to shouto joining the team, hello megan 
> 
> once i figured that out i was able to work this chapter up really quickly, and i decided to go ahead and post today to keep building the hype both for me and for my new subscribers!
> 
> i have a big standardized test that i need to take on friday, so i might not be able to work much on it until next weekend but. if i get comments. maybe i can be persuaded to procrastinate by working on this instead of some other way ;)

Shouto has maybe thirty minutes before his dad is done getting ready and he’s forced back into the training room again. He shifts a little on the couch, adjusting his book in his lap for a better view. He’s not about to look up from his book for anything. He wants to get as much of this thing read as possible before he has to train and can’t force himself to look at words and make them mean things anymore because of how sore he is.  

The doorbell rings. That’s strange, the doorbell _never_ rings. Solicitors and evangelists know better than to stop at the Todoroki home. Natuso doesn’t live there much anymore, but he still has a key and doesn’t have to bother with the bell. Fuyumi only goes over to her friends’ houses and never brings them over and Shouto and their father don’t have any friends.

The point being, Shouto is surprised by the sound. He considers ignoring it in favor of his book, but he’s curious enough that he decides against it. He gets up to go open the door. He’s even more surprised by who he sees standing on his doorstep. It’s Batman and Black Canary, and Canary has a Hawaiian print tote bag slung around her like a middle aged soccer mom. She's wearing her skin tight leotard and her badass leather jacket and her iconic choker and she still somehow looks like a middle aged soccer mom. 

Actually, both of them somehow look more like two parents trying to get him to buy tickets to their son’s chili feed for his soccer team than two of the most prominent members of the Justice League. The only members that would have been a greater shock to see would have been Superman or Wonder Woman.

Actually, Shouto thinks that if he ever saw either Superman or Wonder Woman standing on his front doorstep with a tote bag he might drop dead on the spot.

“Hello, I’m Black Canary and this is Batman. We’re here to speak to you and your father about the Justice League.” She says this just the same way that someone would say “converting to Mormonism” or “buying a new vacuum”. Casually, like it’s something that he’s not sold on yet but will be. Considering that this is the Justice League, his father’s greatest goal for his entire life, Shouto knows that no sales pitch is in order. If they ask “want to join” his father will respond “when can I start”.

“Father,” he shouts. Shouto hears crashing upstairs. His father must have been startled when doing something and dropped something because of Shouto's interruption. That does not bode well for Shouto, but at least there are two League members here right now. His father can’t do anything with those two around.

“What is it, Shouto,” Endeavor calls in a frustrated voice.

“The Justice League is here!”

“The entire Justice League is here,” Endeavor says sarcastically, “yes, I’m sure-”

“Just Batman and Black Canary,” Shouto corrects, cursing himself for letting such a stupid thing come out of his mouth, “Batman and Black Canary are here!”

“You had better not be lying to me,” Endeavor shouts. Shouto shivers. He knows that tone. If he were lying about this then it wouldn’t be pretty. And by “it” Shouto means “his face”. His father always goes for the face in the next training session after Shouto pisses him off. Training accidents are the easiest way for him to pretty up what he does to him.

“Is he always like this?” Batman asks. Shouto can’t tell if it’s a joke or a slight. Shouto shrugs either way. His father _is_ always like this except for when he’s worse. Shouto hears feet nearing the stairs and then bounding down them. Endeavor looks like a child on Christmas morning when he looks at Batman and Black Canary on his doorstep. Then he slips immediately back into his CEO of the American branch of Todoroki Industries composed demeanor. It’s so easy for his father to slip from persona to persona that sometimes it freaks Shouto out. He never knows which face he’ll be talking to at any given moment.

“Batman, Black Canary,” Endeavor says, “it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Batman says, but he doesn’t sound genuine. Black Canary just nods. That seems to let a little of the air out of his father’s tires. They aren’t nearly as excited to see his father as his father is to see them.

“You’re here to talk to League membership, I would assume?” Batman nods. Shouto feels his stomach twist. His father’s dreams might actually be coming true.

“You can go, Shouto,” his father says. It’s dismissive, but far less dismissive than he’s used to. His father must be committed to putting on a good face for these heroes. Shouto turns to head back into the house.

“Actually,” Black Canary says, and the look that she sends his father is not kind, “we’re here to talk to both of you.” Shouto turns around to face her again. They want to talk to him? Batman and Black Canary want to talk to _him_? He knows that they mentioned him when they got there, but he thought it was a polite inclusion- like a royal we. They didn’t want to tell him to head off to his room because the adults were talking even though that was what was happening.

“Both of us?” his father asks. He doesn’t seem to like that idea. Shouto might be his perfect successor, but he wanted the Justice League’s attention to be focused on himself first.

“You seem surprised,” Batman says and Shouto can’t read the man’s tone. He doesn’t think that his father can either.

“I thought that the League did not admit members under the age of eighteen?” his father asks.

“The Justice League has an advanced Team of young superheroes,” Black Canary says, “they work mostly independently with some assistance and guidance from the Justice League. We think that Shouto would be a good fit.” Endeavor glares at her.

“Shouto will not be joining some Junior Justice League,” his father says, “he does not have the time.” Shouto has no idea how he would squeeze that in on top of training and school work. He hardly has time to even read a book or see his sister as it is and they live in the same house.

“The offer for Shouto to join the Team isn’t an added bonus,” Batman says, “it’s a prerequisite for your own invitation.”

“What?” 

“If you don’t allow Shouto to join The Team then we will rescind your invitation,” Batman says firmly. Shouto is shocked. Batman wants him join this Kiddie Justice League enough to deny his father entry into the real one? When did Batman even notice that Shouto exists?

“Why?” 

“We believe that it is best for all young superheroes to have the chance to work as a team away from adults but with some supervision. We think that your son deserves that opportunity as well,” Batman says. Shouto doesn’t have time to work on a team. He doesn’t need to either. He is doing perfectly well with the “guidance” that he already has. He doesn’t need any more of it.

“I should be making these kinds of decisions for my son, not the Justice League,” his father says. Shouto may not like most of the decisions his father has made for him, but he doesn’t think he’ll like giving the Justice League free rein over his life either. Being forced to join a team under the direction of the Justice League will just give someone else control over his life, and Shouto doesn’t want that. He would like to have some degree of control over his own destiny at some point, please.

“This is nonnegotiable, Endeavor,” Black Canary says, “either you both join or neither of you do.” His father’s scowl deepens.

“Fine," his father spits, "he can join this Team on a trial basis. If we decide that it is interfering with his schoolwork-” i.e. training “then I reserve the right to pull him out at any point.” Both heroes glare at _him_ then. Shouto wonders if Endeavor could take either of these heroes in a fight. Batman’s a formidable and intelligent fighter, but he still lacks powers. Black Canary’s a great fighter too and she has powers, but it’s not the most versatile or powerful set. Emitting soundwaves from your mouth doesn’t make you Wonder Woman. Of course, fire powers don’t either, but it’s a bit of a better start.

Shouto thinks, grudgingly, that his father could probably take them.

“Do we have a deal?” he grits out. Batman and Black Canary exchange a look. They don’t look excited about it, but Batman holds out his hand to shake Endeavor’s.

“Welcome to the Justice League, Endeavor,” he says. Black Canary reaches into her printed tote bag and pulls out some packets of paper.

“These include the legal paperwork that you will need to fill out before the swearing in ceremony next Saturday morning. It will be at 9:30 AM at the Hall of Justice in Washington DC.”

“Am I expected to arrange my own transportation to DC?” Endeavor asks.

“No,” Batman says, “I will be by your house that morning at 6:30 sharp to escort you to the ceremony and take care of last minute preparations.” Great. He's leaving at 6:30 on a Saturday. He’s allowed to “sleep in” until 7:30 on Saturdays and Sundays. It’s his tiny bit of respite from his 5 AM wake up call during the week.

“Thank you,” Endeavor says, “we will be ready.” Shouto nods. He sure as fuck doesn’t want to be, but he knows that he _will_ be. Batman and Black Canary both nod, and then they leave. Like they didn’t just draft his father into the Justice League and Shouto himself into some sort of Sidekick Club. He doesn’t know how he feels about this.

Shouto had always wanted to join the Justice League someday of his own merit, leaping over his father to become a better hero than he could ever dream of being. That plan didn’t involve joining the Junior Justice League and eating Superman popsicles and getting a little Batman hat to wear around saying he’s a “hero in training”. Shouto is a more experienced hero than half the capes gearing for a spot on the Justice League right now, he just has to prove it.

As soon as Batman and Black Canary are out of sight, the two Todorokis breathe a collective sigh of relief.

“So,” Shouto says, and he knows that these words might be dangerous, “that was weird.” Endeavor sends him a ghost of a smile.

“Exceedingly,” he responds. Shouto nods, glad that they’re at least on the same page about this.

“Don’t get attached to those Junior League members,” Endeavor orders, “they will be your competition.” Shouto nods. He wasn’t planning on it. He can’t get distracted with things like “friendships” when everything that he cares about is hanging in the balance.

“Don’t worry,” Shouto says, “I won’t.” He’s never had friends before, why should he start with his competition? He doesn’t know who all is on this Team, but he assumes that Robin is, considering Batman’s enthusiasm for the subject. Then he would hazard a guess that Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Speedy all are as well, considering that their mentors are also members of the Justice League. Robin and Speedy are both without powers, so while they are skilled competitors, they aren’t in the same League as he is. Kid Flash might have powers, but Shouto doesn't think the guy's in his League either. Kid Flash seems to take hero work even less seriously than his mentor does, treating Central City's villains as troublesome students and missions as fun games that he can win at a leisurely pace despite his speed.

The only one of the bunch that Shouto is truly worried to confront is Aquadlad. Shouto saw Aqualad's skill himself once when they fought a sea monster together down in Galveston. The Atlantean has reached a level of mastery with his powers that impresses even Shouto and he seems to have control over both water and electricity. He might even have other abilities above and beyond that Shouto did not notice. Shouto plans to surpass him, though, and he will.

He _has_ to be the best hero, better than every other hero on earth. He even has to surpass Superman if he’s going to reach his goals someday. He’s going to become the greatest hero on earth, but Shouto is going to do it on his own terms and for himself, not for his father and his glory. He’s going to do it without his father’s fire. 

“I expect you down in the training room in fifteen minutes,” his father says. Shouto thinks about the borderline comment that he made and how his father reacted, and he thinks about something he would really like. He would _really_ like to not train tonight and go out to dinner with Fuyumi instead. Shouto is feeling brave right now.

“But you were just accepted into the Justice League." 

“And you think that means you can slack off?” his father says, laughing at him. 

“I just thought we could celebrate,” Shouto says, “Fuyumi gets home in half an hour. We could go out for dinner?” They could tell her all about the Justice League and she could tell them all about how cute and silly her kindergarteners were today. It would be perfect.

“ _I’m_ the one joining the Justice League. You’re joining Kindergarten Cops." His father grins like he's just made a hilarious joke.

"Maybe we should eat with your sister. Then you can ask her advice for dealing with your teammates.” Shouto clenches his fists, but doesn’t respond even though he wants to defend his sister. Or maybe himself, though he knows neither would be worth it. The insult wasn't bad enough for Shouto to risk defending himself, and he knows that Fuyumi doesn’t want him getting in trouble to defend her either. 

She’s always playing peacekeeper. She just wants the family to stay together. She thinks that if she sticks around then she can keep their father from hurting him too much. Shouto wishes that she wouldn’t put her life on hold for him. Being in their father’s house is bad enough as a teenager. He thinks it’s not any better as a young professional.

He knows keeping him and his father from killing each other is the only reason why she hasn’t moved to Austin with Natsuo. Their brother's been working through his undergrad in biology there and plans to apply to med school at Baylor when he’s done. Then they could at least be happy together over two hours away from their father’s ire. Shouto wishes that he could be more than two hours away from his father’s ire, or even just a few minutes away. He wishes he could get out of this house. 

“Don’t think you can slack off this week because _I_ have a ceremony coming up. You have done nothing to be worthy of attention yet. I have no idea why Batman and Canary are bothering,” his father says coldly. Then he heads up the stairs to finish whatever task held his attention before being handed everything he ever wanted on a silver platter and giving Shouto nothing back in return.

Shouto clenches his fists and lets the anger course through him. His right fist frosts over a little bit. It doesn’t show the self control that he’s looking for, but it’s better than smoke. Losing control of his ice half is better than losing control of his fire side. _Anything_ is better than using his fire. Better to be lumped in with villains like Killer Frost or Mr. Freeze than his father.


	3. Welcome to the Team(s)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Justice League admits new members. The Team does too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that I did a good job introducing all of the team members in this chapter, but I have a cheat sheet at the bottom. also the plan right now is to only include artemis and shouto's povs from now on. chapter one with wonder woman's pov was just because it was a prologue. 
> 
> please inform me of anything confusing! i know that the young justice timeline and characters must be overwhelming (why isn't anyone ever just whelmed?!?!) to any bnha fans here who haven't watched both, so i promise to answer any questions you might have.

It’s 9 AM on a Saturday morning, and Artemis Crock would like to be at home, curled up in bed. She doesn’t get to just relax much while going to her new prestigious private school on top of her hero work. Gotham Academy is going to provide her with a better education and allow her better opportunities for college, but at what cost? She kind of misses being bored out of her brains and not having to do any homework outside of school.

At least _then_ she didn’t have to deal with snotty rich kids and piles of homework all the time.

Now she gets to sort through the rich kids, the homework on top of the early mornings on weekends for hero stuff. Artemis likes hanging out with the Team, but just watching a League initiation ceremony from inside the Hall of Justice? That sounds boring as hell. They say some nice words, give the new heroes some plaques, and then say they’re part of the Justice League. Whoop-dee-freakin’-doo.

She would have skipped out on it if the rest of the Team hadn’t insisted she come. She kind of hates having friends who can pressure her into doing things. It’s better than not having friends like she used to, but still. Peer pressure’s annoying as shit when it’s actually effective.

“Are we here early?” Artemis asks, glancing down at the clock on her phone, “I thought this thing _started_ at 9.” Artemis had made sure to get to the zeta tube near her house at exactly 9 o’clock, so that she could teleport into the Hall of Justice and get there a little bit late so she could avoid any awkward waiting around and sleep in as long as possible.

Megan is the only other person who's already here, which is really strange. She doesn't look talkative either, which is stranger. 

“Are we here early?” Artemis asks again. She sends Artemis a cute but sheepish grin. Artemis decides to focus on the cute. Megan always makes her feel under-dressed. Megan’s wearing an adorable outfit complete with both a skirt and short heels, _and_ her makeup is done perfectly to compliment her complexion.

Or at least, to compliment her human complexion. Artemis doesn’t know _what_ makeup would look good with the girl’s normal green skin tone. Artemis might wear that shade of green for her hero costume, but she’s never really imagined trying to match makeups to it. It’s hard enough to find makeups that match her own complexion and Artemis might not be white, but she has a normal human skin tone. She can’t imagine trying to find stuff to match Megan’s martian green. 

Megan blushes. It almost matches her hair.

“You told me it started thirty minutes early, didn’t you,” Artemis says.

“Well, yes,” she says, “but I just wanted to make sure you’d get here on time.” Artemis sighs. She could have gotten here thirty minutes later and gotten a lot more sleep. Then she could be cozy in bed and not socializing, or worrying about her father’s offer still floating in the back of her mind.

“Join Jade and I in Santa Prisca tonight if you’re switching sides,” Sportsmaster had said, “they’ll never accept you, baby girl. Might as well give up now.” Artemis doesn’t know if her friends will accept her, but she knows that she _wants_ them too. She doesn’t want to crawl back to her father.

The zeta lights up again, and the mechanical woman’s voice says, “Designation B02 Aqualad.” Then, Kaldur materializes there on the platform. He looks as stoically beautiful as always with his swimmer’s build, sharp bone structure, and light green eyes and platinum blond hair contrasting against his dark skin.

Artemis is glad that she’s not the type of person that denies herself the simple pleasures of looking at other hot people because she has a dumb crush on someone else. Especially a dumb crush that was maybe, possibly going somewhere before she screwed it all up and made him hate her again. Stupid Wally and his stupid Kid Flash costume and his stupid cute freckles and stupid cute loyalty.

“You got us here before Kaldur,” Artemis grumbles. She loves the guy, but he follows rules to a _fault._ Getting to this shindig before Kaldur means that they’re in for a whole lot of awkward waiting around. Either Megan doesn’t hear her comment, or she decides not to respond.

“Artemis, M’gann,” Kaldur says, smiling, “it is good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you too!’ Megan says, nearly bouncing with her enthusiasm.

“I’d prefer not to see you this _early_ ,” Artemis says. Megan looks away sheepishly.

“Yes,” Kaldur says, “I _was_ surprised to see that you were already here. Were you not informed of the proper time?” Megan blushes.

“Yeah,” Artemis says, “something like that.” Artemis hears the zeta tube activate again.

“Designation B06 Red Arrow,” it chirps again. Roy Harper steps off the threshold, clad in his red and black spandex, quiver of red arrows draped over his back. He looks even more out of place because the rest of them are in civvies.

Artemis doesn’t know why the guy chose to go with red for his color scheme when it clashes with his ginger hair, or decided to go with a superhero theme that rips off his mentor when he’s trying to step out of Green Arrow's shadow, but she supposes it doesn’t matter much. Red Arrow is an asshole and he can do whatever dumb shit he wants as long as he stays out of Artemis’s way.

His eyes land on Kaldur, and Red Arrow _smiles_ at him. What the fuck? Artemis didn’t even think that the dude _could_ smile. Green Arrow’s first sidekick has hated her since the moment he laid eyes on her. Artemis can tell he’s worried about being replaced by her, but he could chill a little bit. For some reason, Green Arrow and the rest of the Team still like him. Sometimes she worries they all like him far better than they like her. Right now, Artemis thinks sadly, she _knows_ Wally likes him better than her.

“Kaldur,” Red Arrow says, “good to see ya.”

“It is good to see you too, Roy,” Kaldur says, smiling warmly.

“Hey dick,” Artemis says. Then Red Arrow’s eyes settle on her. Surprisingly, his smile doesn’t evaporate.

“Artemis,” Megan scolds.

“No, no,” Roy says, “she can call me a dick. I’ve kind of been one.”

“Wow,” Artemis says, “is Red Arrow _apologizing_ to the fake archer?” The glare returns to Roy’s face.

“On second thought,” Roy says, “ I wasn’t a dick. You were doing a bad job and acting suspicious, so.”  Artemis rolls her eyes. Maybe she shouldn’t have retorted and just let the dude apologize, but he didn’t have to double back on his dickery. She shouldn’t be surprised. She doubts if Roy Harper would know what an apology looked like if it spit acid in his face.

The zeta sounds once again, and all eyes turn to the machine as it says their designations.

_Designation B08 Zatanna_ , _Designation B04 Superboy_

Soon both Zatanna and Conner join their growing cluster of team members. Zatanna is wearing cute, normal clothes, and Conner is wearing his superhero costume. But then again, since his superhero costume is just a pair of jeans and a Superman shirt, it’s really not that different from Conner dressing casually. How no one notices that the boy is Superman’s clone when he wears nothing but Superman shirts, Artemis doesn’t know.

“Wait,” Artemis says, turning to Megan, “why didn’t you drag Zatanna and Conner here thirty minutes early too?” Those three all live together at Team HQ at the Cave, why didn’t Megan make them get there early too?

“I knew that Zatanna and would Conner here on time,” Megan says, like it’s obvious, “but I wasn’t so sure about you.” There’s a ghost of a grin on Conner’s normally stoic face, and Zatanna starts laughing.

“Oh Artemis,” Zatanna says, “you should- you should see your face. You look so mad.”

“I _am_ so mad,” Artemis says. If Megan weren’t her best friend, she would have chewed the girl out.

“I’ve gotta go,” Red Arrow says, “they wanted me to meet with the rest of the League before the ceremony.”

“I hope you trip on your way up there,” Artemis shouts.

“Screw you too!” Red Arrow says, flashing her the finger as he heads out the door.

“Was Red Arrow just flipping you off?” Wally asks, sending her a confused look. Artemis laughs as she nods. It  _is_ pretty funny. 

“Good,” Wally says, and wow, that’s fucking harsh. She knew that she pissed him off, but she didn’t know that she’d pissed him off _that_ much.

“Wally,” Kaldur says, “that was not very civil.” Wally shrugs. He doesn’t care about being civil when he’s this angry with her.

“Where’s Robin?” Conner asks, and Artemis is glad that he takes the attention off of her and Wally’s fight, “I thought you two were glued at the hip.”  
  
“Bats wanted Rob to help get the newbies situated before they join us here,” Wally says.

“There’s two of them, right?” Zatanna asks.

“Yes,” Kaldur says, “there’s Rocket, Icon’s sidekick. She can fly and create bubbles out of kinetic energy.”

“That sounds cool,” Zatanna says, “what about the other one?” Kaldur doesn’t have time to tell them about the guy before he materializes in the room.

 

_Designation 02 Batman, Designation B01 Robin, Designation B09 Rocket, Designation B10 Shouto_

 

Batman appears with Robin, who’s wearing his civvies, black sunglasses and all. Beside them are two teenagers who must be the new team members. One of them is a pretty Black girl with a pixie cut, and the other is an East Asian boy with hair that’s half white and half red. That’s quite a… bold look. She doesn’t know why he’d want to dye it that way. 

Then her eyes catch on his eyebrows and she notices that not only is one eyebrow red and one eyebrow white, but the sides match match up with the hair on his head. She realizes that his hair must be this way naturally. Wow. That’s strange. Artemis might have a bit of a strange hair color for a Vietnamese girl (she’s heard more than enough lewd comments from boys about being so "exotic" for being Asian with blonde hair) but at least hers is an actual natural hair color. This kid looks a bit like a walking American flag and that was just the way he was born. 

“These are your new team members,” Batman says, “I expect that you’ll all introduce yourselves and get settled in during the ceremony.”

“We can handle it, B,” Robin says, shooing his mentor off with a hand, “go get ready.” Batman nods and then leaves the Team to themselves.

“So,” Robin says gesturing to Artemis and the rest of his teammates, “this is the Team.”

“Wait,” the girl says, “is that _Aqualad_?”

“I am Aqualad. I am the Team’s leader.”

“That is so cool,” she says.

“We are quite cool,” Kaldur admits with a small smile, “but we would like to hear about you two.” Rocket smiles.

“I’m Rocket!” she says, “I’m Icon’s sidekick. I was actually the one that got the guy into hero work in the first place.” She looks very proud of herself when she says this. She's obviously excited to be here. The guy looks like he'd rather be at a funeral. 

“It’s nice to meet you!” Megan says, sending the brooding boy a bright smile.

“What are your powers?” Conner asks. Kaldur already gave them a rundown of Rocket's powers, but maybe Conner didn't hear. Maybe he's just making conversation too. 

“I fly and make bubbles of kinetic energy,” Rocket says. Those both sound like useful powers. Rocket looks over to her sour companion.

“Aren’t you going to introduce yourself, Shouto?” she asks.

“I’m Shouto,” he says. With how reluctantly he says it he sounds like she was asking him to do ten pages of homework or have his teeth pulled.

“Oh, you’re the Icy Hot guy!” Wally exclaims, “dude, you have like, the coolest powers.”

“Uh, thanks?” Shouto says.

“Icy Hot guy?” Artemis says, “what does that mean?”

“I have control over both fire and ice,” Shouto says.

“Who’s sidekick are you anyway?” Rocket asks, “Batman didn’t mention.” Shouto stiffens at that. Maybe he has the same hangups about the word sidekick that most of The Team does. Robin, Kid Flash and Aqualad ended up finding Superboy and forming their own Team because they were pissed off about being treated like "sidekicks" after all.

“We don’t really like the word sidekicks,” Robin says cautiously.

“But sidekicks are so cool,” Rocket says, “there’s nothing wrong with needing a little help when you start out. We’re just teenagers.” Then her eyes settle on Robin.

“And kids,” she adds.

“Hey!” Robin squeaks, “I’m a teen!”

“A tiny one,” Rocket says. Artemis cackles at that. Zatanna joins right in. 

“Oh I like you,” she says.

Zatanna nods and says, "Me too!" 

"But really," Rocket says, "who's sidekick are you anyway?" 

"I work with my father," Shouto says, and he makes superhero work sound like dreaded chore, "he's joining the League today." 

“Alright,” Rocket says, “are the rest of you going to introduce yourselves?”

“I”m Kid Flash, but you can call me Wally,” he says in a flirty manner. Artemis wishes that she could laugh at him over it, but it kind of makes her stomach tie itself into a knot. Stupid jealousy- stupid crush.

“I am Aqualad, but you can call me Kaldur.”

“Superboy.”

“Or Conner!” Megan adds excitedly, “and I’m Miss Martian!” She shifts her skin tone back to the green. Then, she shifts back her pale white human complexion.

“But when I look like this I’m just a regular girl! You can call me Megan.”

“My name’s Artemis. It’s my superhero name and my real one. Easy to remember.”

“Oh em gee, me too,” Zatanna jokes, “I’m Zatanna.” Shouto sends Robin a serious look.

“What’s your real name?” he asks.

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Robin says cryptically.

“Yes,” Shouto says, sounding confused, “that’s why I asked?” Wally puts a hand on the dude’s shoulder.

“It’s okay, the bats are crazy about secret IDs,” Wally says, “I’m the only one who knows his real name, and it took him like, three years of best friendship to tell me. Don’t take it personally.”

“Uh, thanks?” Shouto says. He looks uncomfortable at the physical contact, but Wally's hand is gone from his shoulder as quickly as he put it there. Artemis watches him as he glances down at his shoulder, now without a hand on it, decides not to say anything. 

“Oh nice, it’s starting!” Wally says. He bolts forward in a blur of color to get the best spot in front of the TV. Then, the rest of the them follow him at normal, human speeds. They all stand around the giant TV in the middle of the Hall of Justice and watch the news broadcast of the ceremony going on right outside the door. They make lots of funny comments as Superman gives a speech about the duties of membership and telling the truth. Captain Marvel looks like he’s going to spontaneously combust.

Artemis can’t tell which part is more unbelievable: that he’s actually ten or that they didn’t boot him off the Justice League for being ten. 

“I love the fact that there’s a ten year old on the League,” Wally says, taking a loud bite of an apple. Wally just says her thoughts out loud. Sometimes he seems to do that.

“There is?” Rocket demands. Robin elbows Wally in the stomach and scolds him for not being able to keep a secret.

“Who cares if they find out the secrets, they’re on the Team now, right?” Wally says. They might both be members now, but one of them seems more excited about being on The Team than the other one does.

“They’ll know all the secrets soon enough,” Wally says.

“Not mine,” Robin says firmly. Wally shrugs.

“You might change your mind about that,” he says. Robin sends him a look that’s probably a glare, but it’s hard to tell behind those stupid sunglasses. Then Icon gets his League membership and Rocket gives them an earful.

“You know, I was the one who convinced Icon to become a hero in the first place, I should be outside celebrating with him, not hidden away in here.” Rocket grumbles.

“Welcome to our world,” Kaldur says.

“We are their partners! We should be out there with them,” Rocket grumbles, but she quiets down once the camera shifts off of Icon. They hand out a few more League membership papers before they get to an intimidating man with a flaming beard.

That must be Shouto’s father. The dude is being admitted into the Justice League with all the pomp and circumstance that goes along with that, and he doesn’t even bother to smile. He just has a smug look that reminds Artemis of her own dad, especially with that tall, muscular build they both share. It makes her want to dropkick him.

“That dude out there with the flames,” Rocket says, “that’s your dad, right Shouto?” The other boy nods his head slightly to acknowledge her question. 

“Doesn’t it bug you?” Rocket asks, “your dad’s out there getting League membership and you’re cooped up in here?”

“The farther I am away from my father, the better,” Shouto says, and damn, if that doesn’t sound like Artemis herself. It’s weird that that’s something that she has in common with a superhero’s kid.

 

Then they give Red Arrow his League membership certificate. Wally, Robin and Kaldur all cheer. They’re happy for their friend, even if he is a world class dick. The ceremony comes to a close, but Robin’s communicator beeps. The Team’s unfinished business has reared its ugly head.

“Oh,” Robin says, that boy genius smirk curling on his lips, “looks like we get give the newbs a Team test run.” Shouto’s face contorts in confusion.

“Newbs?” he asks. Artemis can’t tell if he’s insulted or legitimately doesn’t know what the word means.

“Hey,” Rocket says, “I am _not_ a newb.”

“You’re a newb to the Team,” Robin counters.

“Whatever,” Rocket says, rolling her eyes, “what’s going on anyway?”

“We let a villain go free a few weeks ago,” Robin says, “so we rigged up the League’s system so that we could get the on alert first the next time she was spotted. _We_ are putting her away.” Oh no. Robin means Cheshire. This alert was Cheshire specifically. Artemis feels a little sick to her stomach. Why did it have to be her sister, today of all days? Couldn't Jade have slid under the radar for _one month_? She trained with the League of Shadows! She should be better at espionage than this. 

“I’ve been on the Team for an hour and we’re already going on missions? Nice,” Rocket says. She seems very excited to get into the action. Artemis is glad that _one_ of their new members is happy to be here.

“So this mission would be against the wishes of the League?” Shouto asks, eyes narrowing.

“Correct. You two do not have to come,” Kaldur says, “I know that you have just joined this team. Our unfinished business does not have to be yours yet.”

“No,” Rocket says firmly, “if you’re all going somewhere, I am too. I’m a part of this team now, right?”

“Of course,” Kaldur says with the hint of a grin on his lips.

“Plus it sounds fun,” Rocket says, grinning.

“What do you think, Shouto?” Megan asks, “do you want to come with us?”

“No.”

“Wow,” Wally says, “you didn’t even think about that for a second. Are we sure _he’s_ not the speedster?”

“That might be the worst joke you’ve ever made,” Artemis says, “and that’s a real feat.” Wally glares, and it seems like it’s a real one- not the flirty kind of glare they’d been cultivating before she pissed him off. Fine. He can be mad all he wants. Artemis crosses her arms over her chest.

“Come on, Shouto,” Rocket says, wrapping an arm around his shoulder like they’ve been friends forever, “it’ll be an adventure. Isn’t that why we joined the Team?” Shouto looks extremely uncomfortable at the physical contact.

“I didn’t want to join in the first place,” he says, and he shrugs her arm off of his shoulder. Rocket slides her hands in her pockets and looks embarrassed by the reaction. 

“Well,” Artemis says, “your options are coming with us and having fun, or waiting around at the Hall until the mentors get back and then explaining to them where we went.” Shouto grimaces at that. Artemis continues, just to really hammer home how unpleasant that would be.

“And your dad’ll be with them, the one you just said you wanted to stay as far away from as possible? You’ll get to congratulate him on his new League membership.” Artemis knows that it’s a low blow, using the kid’s obvious hatred of his dad to manipulate him, but she does think that he would prefer coming with them to staying here. Shouto goes from his default unpleasant look to an actual angry one.

“Fine,” he growls, “I’ll come.” Kaldur offers him a gentle look.

“I know that you did not want to join us,” he says, “but please, give us the opportunity to show you what we are like. I am sure that you will enjoy the experience.”

“Whatever,” Shouto says. Kaldur starts to lead them to the Bio-Ship so that they can finally just get this mission over with. Maybe after that Shouto will stop grumbling. 

“He’s worse than Superboy used to be,” Artemis tells Megan. The other girl giggles. Sometimes Superboy's level of angst just seemed ridiculous, but then again, Superboy has always been so angry because he didn't have a place in the world. CADMUS made him to be a weapon, so he didn't know what to do or how to handle himself when he decided _not_ to be one, especially after Superman rejected him. She thinks about all those things that Shouto said about his dad and if that angst of his might be valid too.

She pushes the thoughts away. She doesn't have time to worry about that. Artemis has too much of her own baggage to be worrying about someone else's. 

“Are you absolutely sure that it’s Cheshire?” Artemis asks Robin. She really doesn't want to have to fight her sister again today, especially not when her dad still wants her to meet up with them and fly to Santa Prisca tonight. 

“Positive,” Robin says. Artemis sighs. This is going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Robin- Dick Grayson, protege and adopted son of Batman. Founding member of the Team  
> Kid Flash- Wally West, protege and nephew of The Flash. Founding member of the Team.  
> Aqualad- Kaldur’ahm or Kaldur for short, an Atlantean who was chosen to be the protege of his King, Aquaman. Founding member of the Team and their current leader.  
> Superboy- Conner Kent, clone of Superman created by the bad guys and rescued by the founding members of the Team.  
> Miss Martian- M’gann M’orzz or Megan Morse. Protege and niece of Martian Manhunter.  
> Artemis- Artemis Crock. Protege and “niece” of Green Arrow. Red Arrow says that she’s not but he doesn’t know who she really is, the daughter of the villain Sportsmaster and younger sister of the villain Cheshire.  
> Zatanna- Zatanna Zatara. Protege and of the magician Giovanni Zatara, who gave up his body and his magic to a powerful entity called Doctor Fate to save the world a few months back.  
> Red Arrow- Roy Harper, formerly known as “Speedy”. Former protege of Green Arrow. He has been on and off about whether he is a solo hero or a member of the Team since leaving Green Arrow, and is now joining the Justice League as a full member along with Endeavor and the rest.


	4. Outfiltrating

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shouto has his first mission with The Team and then gets signed up for another one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey my dudes! i'm baaaaaccccckkkk. had to write a just yj fic after the new episode and write like. 2/3 of a handmaid's tale fic before i could come back to this but i have returned!
> 
> my spring semester of school starts up again on the 22nd (5 days from now) so i'm trying to get in another chapter before school derails my writing productivity train. 
> 
> i hope that you guys like this one! it's mainly recap of The Big Convo TM from the usual suspects and do not
> 
> date posted: january 17th 2019
> 
> Also please enjoy this incorrect quotes textpost i made a few days ago with todoroki and dabi as artemis and jade http://disregardcanon.tumblr.com/post/176814947368/todoroki-after-dabi-saves-him-what-why-dabi

Shouto follows the rest of his new “teammates” out of the Hall of Justice and into its attached garage. Then he watches something shift from being a parked car into being a spaceship. Shouto decides that he’s just not even going to ask about however that was that just happened. If Rocket’s not confused, then whatever. He’s sure that the shapeshifting spaceship is just a normal part of being part of this Team. It’s _not_ normal, but it’s normal for them. It’s that sort of weird that you get used to in a world with aliens and metahumans and Atlanteans.

 

The mission goes smoothly enough. They fight the Riddler. The Riddler! One of Batman’s famous “rogues". Sure it’s not the Joker or Poison Ivy, but the Riddler’s a pretty high profile guy. Together, the Team takes him down and sends almost all of his entourage to prison. Sure, that Cheshire villain they were tracking gets away, but they get almost everyone else. He thinks that has to count as a victory.

And Shouto has to admit, it’s kind of fun to work _with_ people instead of under them. His father’s always barking orders, deciding Shouto's every move and not letting him make a single decision on his own. Aqualad might be this Team’s leader, but he gives members a lot of room to make their own decisions and try their own strategies. They work like a Team and not like one leader and some underlings. He might be reluctant to admit it, but he enjoyed the mission.

He thinks he enjoys this Team too. He’s not completely on board yet, but he’s willing to give it a chance. He’s not feeling as hesitant about it as he was earlier.

After they capture all the villains and take them to the proper authorities, they fly to Mount Justice in the same shapeshifting spaceship they took to get here. Rocket is _gushing_ the whole time about how much fun she had on the mission. While Shouto doesn’t gush, he _does_ let himself smile a little bit. He had fun. They did well. That’s worth a tiny facial celebration.

When Batman shows up, though, he doesn’t seem like he’s there to congratulate them. Neither does Black Canary or Red Tornado. Shouto really doesn’t want to have the entire Justice League angry with him on his first day. He doesn’t know what the consequences of that will be when he gets home.

“Tell me if this sounds familiar,” Batman says, “you hacked League systems, disobeyed protocol, and endangered your lives." Shouto feels the air leave his lungs. Batman looks really mad. What is he going to do to them? To _Robin_?

"And your initiative resulted in the capture of three escaped felons, proving that Warden Strange runs Belle Reve as a cover for criminal activity.” Wait, that sounds good though? Why does he still look so mad? Batman looks stricken for a moment when he meets Shouto’s eyes, but then he smiles.

“Well done,” he says. Shouto's teammates look each other over. Not a single other member of the Team looks as relieved as Shouto feels. He doesn’t let out a sigh of relief, because he’s too professional for that, but he does relax. _They’re not in trouble._ He doesn't know why no one else looked shocked or relieved by that fact. 

Batman opens the briefcase they recovered and picks up a glowing pink and red thing. It kind of looks like a hunk of alien flesh.

“Then there’s this,” Batman says, holding up a piece and examining it, “biotechnology-” explains why it looks like flesh “-integrated with some kind of nanocircuitry.

“Though I am unfamiliar with the species, “ Icon, Rocket’s mentor, says, “the bio-component is clearly not of earth.”

“We’ll take it to the Watchtower for further study,” Batman says, and then he closes up the briefcase and takes it with him as he walks to the zeta tube with his colleagues. Rocket rushes off to congratulate Icon on joining the League before he can zeta off and apologizes for leaving before they got to talk after the initiation ceremony.

Icon says, “Well, we both seem to have found teams that suit us.” Black Canary puts a hand on Icon’s shoulder.

“We should go,” she says, “don’t want to miss the League’s induction party.” Shouto feels a little queasy, imaging his father in his company suit, trying to schmooze with Wonder Woman and Superman at a party they’re partially throwing in his honor. Shouto hates that his father is getting everything he ever wanted now.

Black Canary and Icon both zeta out, the machine chanting their names and verification codes as it teleports them to the Watchtower. The Watchtower is apparently the League’s own personal satellite and their _real_ headquarters, which is crazy to think about. His own father didn't even know about the Watchtower until recently, and he was pissed to find out that there were so many League secrets he'd been missing out on all these years. 

“You all realize we were set up on this last mission, right?” Robin says as soon as the two adults are out of the room.

“Yes,” Aqualad says, “Cheshire and Riddler were tipped and ready for us.” Artemis puts an exhausted hand to her head, an action that Shouto thinks he’s heard Natsuo call a “facepalm”.

“Not the mole thing again,” she mutters.

“Mole thing?” Rocket asks, “again?” Kid Flash bites his lip before he answers her.

“We had intel that there was a traitor on the Team." Superboy looks pissed off as he forces his way between Artemis and Kid Flash.

“Mainly Artemis, M’gann or _me,”_ he says, pointing to himself. Aqualad puts a calming hand on his shoulder.

“It is more complicated than that,” Aqualad says. Superboy pushes Aqualad’s hand off immediately. Shouto gets the feeling that _Aqualad_ was the one pursuing this “intel” and Superboy was not happy about it. Superboy starts walking out on them to avoid the situation entirely.

“But your recent behavior _does_ concern me,” Aqualad adds, talking to Superboy’s back as he walks away, “your attack on Mammoth nearly got Artemis killed.” Superboy stops abruptly, and holds his head in his hands, like he’s suffering from a sudden headache in response to Aqualad’s words. Maybe he’s just really struck by the guilt of having harmed his friend? Shouto doesn’t know him well enough to be able to tell yet.

“Superboy?” Aqualad asks.

“There’s something I need to do,” Superboy says, turning around again to face them. “Something I need to tell you. Last month, on Thanksgiving, I went back to Cadmus and found a few things out. When I was cloned, only half the DNA was Superman’s. The other half was human. That’s why I don’t have, will never have, full Kryptonian powers.”

“You sure?” Robin asks, “Cause you sure seemed to have them today.” Shouto thinks that Robin is right. He remembers Superboy flying and shooting lasers out of his eyes. What are full Kryptonian powers if not that? Superboy pulls up his shirt sleeve to reveal a black patch in the shape of the Superman symbol.

“I’ve been using these. Shields. They suppress my human DNA. I get the flight, the heat vision, but I think I also get angry.” From what Shouto knows about Superboy, he seems like he’s always angry.

He looks embarrassed for a moment as he corrects himself, “Well, angri _er_. I’m sorry.”

“Where did you get those?” Aqualad asks.

“From my human father, Lex Luthor.” Every eye in the room widens but not in the happy surprise Shouto was expecting. Aren’t they happy that Superboy’s other dad is the richest man on the planet?

“Your human father is a trillionaire?” Shouto asks.

“And a _supervillain_ ,” Robin says, eyes widening.

“Lex Luthor’s a supervillain?” Shouto asks. He knows that the man isn’t the world's best person, but he thinks that “supervillain” is a stretch. He can’t be any worse than Bill Gates or Steve Jobs, right?

“Lex Luthor is a member of the Light, the villainous organization that we’ve been combating recently” Robin says, “other members include Klarion the Witch Boy who created the day without adults a few months ago and the Bialyan dictator Queen Bee.” Oh. Shouto knows her. She's well-known for her human rights abuses and she tried to take over Qurac just a few months ago. If Lex Luthor works with her, he must actually be as bad as the rest of these kids are getting at. Though Shouto feels like he should be _thanking_ this Klarion character. That boy bought him his first day off of training since he started kindergarten. The Light must be a bit of a mixed bag. 

“He’s really your dad, SB?” Robin asks, still looking shocked. Shouto didn’t even know that Robin could look shocked. He certainly didn’t know the boy’s face could freeze that way.

“He summoned me to Santa Prisca,” Superboy says.

“Ah,” Artemis almost growls, “listen. Superboy’s not the only one suffering from bad DNA.” Artemis walks across the room and accesses a holopad. Then she pulls up three pictures. One is of the villain Cheshire that they fought and failed to capture today, one is of a fairly infamous villain named Sportsmaster that he’s seen on the news, and the last one is of a woman in a cat costume with a quiver of arrows across her back. The big red word “retired” is written over her photo. A picture of each without a mask appears in the bottom corner of each photo. They’re each labeled, but he's far enough away that he can't read the names. 

“My mother is Huntress, an ex-con. The rest of my family aren’t even ex. My dad’s _Sportsmaster_ and he’s sending my sister Cheshire to fly me to Santa Prisca too.” Shouto feels like he's not properly surprised by this revelation, but he noticed Cheshire saving Artemis from the avalanche. He doesn't think that them being sisters seems like too much of a stretch. 

Kid Flash looks like he’s having a revelation as he says, “that’s why-”

“Yeah,” Artemis says, “I was so desperate to make sure that none of you found out.”

“I knew,” Robin says proudly. Shouto rolls his eyes. Robin didn’t figure out Superboy and Lex Luthor, why’s he acting so proud that he figured out this thing with Artemis? The Team had clearly interacted with both her sister and her dad before. It might have actually been obvious that they were related. Artemis still looks freaked out that Robin picked up on it, though.

“Hey, I’m a detective,” Robin assures her, “but it never mattered. You aren’t your family. You’re one of us.” She smiles softly at that. Shouto actually finds _himself_ touched by Robin’s words. The Team doesn't care that her family is all supervillains. She’s their friend and nothing is going to change that.

Kid Flash puts a hand on Artemis’s shoulder and leans on it.

“So,” he jokes, “who’s next?”

“I am,” Miss Martian says firmly. Shouto has to repress a giggle. _Oh my god._ This Team he’s just joined is a complete mess, isn’t it?

Kid Flash puts his hands up in surrender as he says, “I swear I was kidding." 

“Queen Bee’s been blackmailing me,” Miss Martian says. Shouto sends her a confused look. How is a Bialyan dictator blackmailing her? What could that woman even _have_ on Miss Martian?

“She wants me in Santa Prisca too.”

“Blackmailing? How?” Aqualad asks. Thank god that Aqualad’s working on the same wavelength as Shouto because Shouto doesn’t think that he’s close enough to Miss Martian that if he asked she’d answer.

“She knows my _true_ martian form,” Miss Martian says.

“Bald M’gann?” Robin asks, “who cares if-” Robin must not be as good of a detective as he thinks he is if didn’t figure out this girl hasn’t already shown the Team her true form if she’s being _blackmailed_ over it.

“No.” She sighs. Then she shifts out of looking like a cute teenage girl with green skin and into looking like a ten foot tall, smooth, fleshy, anatomically incorrect alien thing. Well. It’s not pretty, but it’s more of what Shouto expected from an alien than the form she had on earlier. He’s not exactly going to be scared of her now. It’s just Miss Martian but taller.

“I realized you would never accept me if you saw what I really am.”

“M’gann, did we truly seem so shallow?” Aqualad asks cautiously.

“I couldn’t take a chance. Being a white martian among the green on Mars I endured constant rejection. I couldn’t face that from-”

“From me?” Superboy asks. He walks up to her and takes her two fingered hand thing in his. They look at each other deeply. He thinks that they’re looking into each other’s eyes, though he can’t really tell with Miss Martian. Then Superboy stands on his tip toes and she leans down.

He kisses her on her gaping martian mouth. Well. That’s one way to find out that those two are dating.

“You two are so sweet,” Artemis says, “kinda makes me want to puke.” Kid Flash laughs as he leans back onto her shoulder. Shouto wonders if he’s about to find out that those two are dating too.

“Tell me about it,” Kid Flash says, “why don’t you two get a room?”

“We will after _you_ do,” Miss Martian chirps. Then she winks one of her big martian eyes. Zatanna and Robin both burst into laughter.

“Megan!” Artemis shouts.

“Well,” Kid Flash says, turning to look at Artemis, “ _do_ you-” Artemis shoves his hand off of her shoulder.

“If you finish that sentence,” she says, pointing at him menacingly, “I swear to Christ, Wally, I will shove an arrow up your ass.” Kid Flash nods, but he’s still grinning from ear to ear. This Team has more romantic drama than the cheesy TV shows his sister watches. It’s actually kind of entertaining. He sees why she likes them now.

“So.” Superboy says, still holding Miss Martian’s alien hand, “what’s the plan now?”

“The villains expect the three of you to meet them in Santa Prisca,” Aqualad says, “I think that you should.”

“You want us to what?” Superboy demands.

“Think about this strategically,” Aqualad says, “we have the opportunity to take three of our biggest foes down simultaneously. Do you not think we should try that?” Robin has an evil grin.

“That’s genius, Kal,” Robin says, “we infiltrate them and then we outfilitrate them.”

“Outfiltrate?” Shouto asks.

“Don’t worry,” Kid Flash stage-whispers to him, “it doesn’t mean anything. Robin just likes to make words up sometimes. It makes him sound smart.” Robin looks ready to tell Kid Flash about how he _is_ smart, but Superboy beats him to talking. Thank god about that too. At least Superboy has something that’s actually constructive to say.

“You _want_ us to go to them?” Superboy demands.

“Yes, I do,” Aqualad says, “then we can infiltrate them.” He grins a little as he adds. “And outfiltrate them.” Robin pumps a triumphant fist into the air. 

“I think we should,” Kid Flash says, “it’s the perfect opportunity.” That’s three yeses now.

“I’m down too,” Zatanna adds. Four yeses.

“Count me in,” Rocket says. Five

“I’m in!” Miss Martian says, shifting back into her human form with green skin. Six

“Whatever,” Superboy says, “I guess I’ll do it.” Seven. That leaves just Artemis and him.

“Artemis?” Aqualad asks, “I realize that this mission could be a little... Personal for you. If you do not want to do this, we can run the mission with just Superboy and Miss Martian.”

“No, I can do this. I could screw over my dad,” Artemis says, and she looks like she’s already sold on the idea, “I’d _really_ like to screw over my dad.” Judging by the fact that her dad is a supervillain, she has ample reason to want to screw over her dad, maybe even more than Shouto himself does. Now he definitely wants to do this if for no other reason than to help her accomplish that.

“You _should_ screw over your dad,” Shouto says, then he glances over to Superboy, “ _both_ of you.”

“You’re so petty,” Artemis says, grinning, “I love it.”

“Shouto, Rocket, are you sure that you both want to come? You are not required to.”

“You think I’m missing _this_ drama?” Rocket says, “fat chance.”

“Shouto?” Aqualad asks.

“What else would I do?” he asks, “Sit around the Cave?” Shouto’s not going to mope around here while they’re off fighting supervillains who happen to be his teammates' _dads._ Aqualad nods.

“It seems that we will all be going to Santa Prisca tonight,” Aqualad says. The Team nods in response.

“We will devise a plan and then we will strike tonight.”

“Go Team!” Kid Flash shouts.

“Rocket, Shouto,” Aqualad says, “as a Team, we normally do our planning and communication through a mental link that Miss Martian establishes between our members that allows us to communicate telepathically over long distances.” Rocket frowns.

“Were you using that on that last mission without us?” Rocket asks. She sounds hurt.

“Yes. We did not wish to overwhelm you on your first mission,” Aqualad says.

“Or just whelm them,” Robin adds.

“I can handle being whelmed,” Rocket says, glaring, “I joined this team to join it- not be kept out of the loop. Shouto, how do you feel about this?”

“I have zero feelings about it,” Shouto says. He doesn’t care that they have a group chat that he wasn’t invited to yet. He just met these people, why would they trust him enough to let him in their _brains_? He’s not even sure he wants to be in their brains. He’s pretty sure he doesn’t want them in his.

“I am sorry that we did not include you earlier, but I think that we will need the mindlink for this next mission. We will be splitting up into different groups and will need to maintain communication throughout. The mindlink is always our most efficient method for keeping in touch on dangerous and hectic missions and I would like for you two to join it. Would this be alright with you?”

“You should have asked me earlier,” Rocket says, “but I’ll still join.” Shouto considers it for a moment.

“Can you read _all_ of my thoughts? My memories?” Shouto asks cautiously. He doesn’t want the Team to see everything that he has going on in his brain. Some things should be kept private, especially from a group of teenagers that he literally just met who all report to different members of the Justice League.

“Only what you allow us to see,” Miss Martian says. Shouto nods. If they can only see and hear what he wants them to see and hear, then this won’t be a problem.

“Count me in then,” Shouto says. He feels something shift. Then he hears Aqualad’s voice, but his mouth isn’t moving. That must mean that he’s inside the link. He thinks _hello_ loudly and then hears his own voice saying it.

“Hi Shouto!” Miss Martian chirps back. Then the Team starts bouncing ideas around in the mind link for how to sneak the members who aren’t meeting villains onto the island, whose powers are best suited for taking down which villain, and how their game plan should go when they get on the ground. There's a lot of brainstorming and collaboration, and most of all dumb teenage jokes. They work together as a Team and Shouto thinks that they'll fight together even better now that they've hashed some of this stuff out. 

This is going to be _fun_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey here's a shot of superboy and miss martian holding hands in her martian form if any of you are just bnha fans and would like the visual because they are a GIFT https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/youngjustice/images/1/14/Miss_Martian_faces_her_fear.png/revision/latest?cb=20120506162334


	5. Santa Prisca

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Santa Prisca happens and Artemis works through some feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm alive! sorry that i went mia for so long, but school was a nightmare this semester. i'm going into dead week, which really shouldn't mean that i have more free time than i've had all semester but apparently that's where we're at. best case scenario i'll be able to work out the next chapter within the next few days while i have some momentum going. worst case scenario, i'll get the next one up in late june or early july. 
> 
> hopefully it'll be the first option!
> 
> originally posted on may 5, 2019

Somehow, the seediest side of Gotham seems _seedier_ in the daylight. At night, there’s a sort of charm to the worst parts of the city. At least there’s distinct character to it, an air of danger- the perfect place for Artemis to beat the shit out of robber or drug dealer. During the day, though, the sight is just sad. The peeling paint is somehow clearer, the crumbling sidewalks a show of poor infrastructure instead of a part of aesthetic. 

Sometimes, Artemis looks at the worst parts of her city and just hates Bruce Wayne. The guy has a mansion made of money while there are parts of the city he claims to love where the buildings are literally falling down. How is that fair? 

Artemis sighs as she finally comes to the building where she agreed to meet Cheshire. She should have told her sister she could zeta somewhere closer to Santa Prisca, but she knows her sister wouldn't have bought it. The Justice League monitors zeta tube traffic more closely than most state governments monitor gun sales. Cheshire would never believe that she could actually zeta across the country without being detected. Instead, she walks around the ill-kept building to it's alley entrance. 

The alley reeks of garbage that hasn't been picked up in weeks, but Artemis just tries to breath out of her mouth to ignore it. She looks up at the side of the six or seven story building and considers how she wants to get to the top.  The metal staircase has started to rust, looking more red than silver. She wonders if she would be better off just taking out one of the tools in her belt and trying to climb the side of the building, but she decides that that wouldn't be worth the effort. She'll just take the plunge and climb the shitty set of metal escape stairs. She can hear the whirling of Jade’s helicopter blades at the top and thinks that the of speed the stairs will be worth it .

She doesn’t want to tell her father that she held them up even more before she was afraid of a set of stairs. Artemis skips the first two stairs and starts her ascent. The stairs wobble, but they hold her all the way to the top.

She spots Jade sitting in the driver’s seat, sitting lazily back and tapping on the steering wheel like a drum set. Jade is obviously not in a hurry to take off. Artemis walks around the helicopter and tries to open the door, to no avail. Then she grabs it with both hands and puts her back into it. 

She sees Jade through the window, laughing. Then she hears a clicking noise. Artemis pulls again with a normal level of strength and the door opens perfectly. She hears Jade’s cackling as her sister sends her a grin. 

“Great job,” Jade drawls. Artemis feels her face flush bright red as she hops into the seat and slams the door. 

“Shut up," she says, crossing her arms over her chest. Jade stops laughing but she doesn’t start flying. 

“You’re really on board with this?” Jade asks softly. There’s a little concern in her voice, like she wants to give Artemis a chance to open that door right back up and get out if she wants. Artemis rolls her eyes. 

“Would I be here if I wasn’t?” Jade smirks.

“I like your guts. Might be nice to be on the same side for once.” That tears a little at a heartstring Artemis didn’t know she still had. Suddenly she’s a little kid again, begging Jade to stay.  _ In this family, _  Jade told her she left Artemis to rot in Sportsmaster's house,  _ it’s every girl for herself.  _

Artemis doesn’t think she and Jade were ever on the same side. Maybe they never will be. 

She looks down at her bow and absently flicks the string with a finger

“Just fly,” she says. Jade doesn’t say anything more and flips on her music. Then she takes off. Artemis would laugh about her assassin sister listening to Carly Rae Jepsen if the situation weren’t so dire. 

_ Stick to the plan,  _ she tells herself,  _ stick to the plan.  _ When she gets to Santa Prisca, she won’t be alone. Superboy and Miss Martian will both be getting there around the same time, and the rest of the Team will get there soon enough after that. It won’t just be her up against her dad and her sister. It’ll be her and her friends against the Light. 

They can do this, right? 

* * *

  
  
  
  


The flight to Santa Prisca is surprisingly short. In a little under three hours, Jade punches her on the shoulder. 

“We’re almost there,” she says. Artemis sighs and puts her mask back on. Jade takes her own mask out of the side of the helicopter door and puts it on. Artemis finds this a little concerning because there’s no way she can see in that thing. She lands the helicopter just fine, though, so hopefully Artemis’s fears were misplaced. 

Jade rolls down the windows of the helicopter, and Artemis has to fake a startled gasp as she catches Superboy’s eyes. 

“Artemis?” he asks with wide eyes. Artemis is impressed. She didn’t expect Superboy to be a good actor. Artemis opens the helicopter door and steps out, followed by Jade. The sun has completely set and the sky above them is navy blue, save for the dots of the stars. Santa Prisca is a mess of bright green, jungle fauna.

Artemis puts on an arrogant, unaffected air as she walks over to meet Sportsmaster. 

“The hero thing wasn’t workin’ out,” she says, “you get how it is. No trust.” Sportsmaster puts a possessive hand on her shoulder. She wants to rip his hand off her shoulder and shoot an arrow through it, but she restrains herself. She forces a smile and glances back at him. 

“This is where I belong," Artemis finishes, the words like bile on her tongue. Then, Miss Martian joins their little reunion. She floats down from a red ship blocking off the light from the moon. Miss Martian  gasps as she sees Superboy then glances cautiously at Queen Bee. 

“Why are they here?” she demands, “you promised!” 

“I’ve kept your secret and my promise,” Queen Bee says harshly. Her look is stern as she adds, “Now, you keep yours.” Miss Martian bows her head submissively. 

“Good girl,” Queen Bee says, like she’s talking to a dog. Artemis can’t wait to rip all of these blackmailers apart. 

“Give me more shields and I’m in too,” Superboy says. Lex Luthor walks towards him and then stops, about a foot away. He grins like a cat who’s caught his prey. 

“My boy, you’re a terrible liar.” Artemis feels fear drip into her veins. She thought they had the villains fooled. Superboy’s shock creeps onto his face immediately, and she knows that his cover is blown wide open. 

“Red Sun,” Luthor says, and Superboy freezes in his tracks. At least he chose that moment to start acting again.  _ Shit _ , Artemis thinks,  _ shit shit shit shit SHIT  _ Instead of panicking, though, she puts her hands on her hips. 

“What do you want us to do?” she asks, looking at Miss Martian. The other girl makes her decision quickly enough. Miss Martian's eyes turn bright green the way they always do when she’s wielding her psychic powers. Then she slams Queen Bee into the ground. Artemis notches an arrow and flips to meet Miss Martian, then she loses it towards her family. The arrow explodes right between Sportsmaster and Cheshire. 

Miss Martian talks through the mind link, letting them know that Queen Bee  _ is _ down, for sure, and they don’t have to worry about her mind control.

Then, the whole situation explodes. Superboy confronts Luthor about the Cadmus programming and how it was wiped from his mind before the god damn rock creature breaks out of its cage and attacks him. 

Suddenly they’re fighting the rock creature, and Luthor, and Bane, and his goons. And worst of all for Artemis, her family. Artemis finds herself cornered in her own personal family squabble, just her and her own demons. Sportsmaster rips out his ball and chain. 

“You have been a very naughty girl,” he growls as he starts swinging it as a shield. Artemis loses an arrow, and it ricochets off the chain like it was nothing. 

_ Guys,  _ she thinks through the mind link,  _ reinforcement time.  _ This is too many enemies for the three of them to handle and she knows it. Thank god they asked the rest of them to fly in and stay so close to the rendezvous point. 

Rocket flies in, purple light tailing her like a comet, and grabs one of Bane’s goons. She drops him to the ground from thirty feet in the air. Artemis sighs in relief. This is too many foes for just the three of them, but she knows that with nine people, they can handle it. Together they can probably handle anything. They have a plan. 

She sees Kid Flash run through a line of Bane’s goons, sending them flying like bowling pins. Shouto freezes the last one left standing solid. 

_ Yeah,  _ Artemis thinks,  _ we can handle this.  _

Sportsmaster launches his ball and chain at her, and she’s so distracted by the chaos going on around her that it actually hits her. Artemis goes down, and suddenly, she’s lying on the ground, Cheshire and Sportsmaster both glaring down at her. 

“You know I don’t tolerate disobedience, Artemis,” he says. It’s been years since Sportsmaster was her primary guardian, but the words still send a chill down her spine. She remembers the “training” bruises she’d gotten when she said she was too tired to go on. He’d throw her against a wall or stomp on her chest or- 

Well. The specifics don’t matter. Doesn’t do any good to dwell on it during a fight. She pushes the images away and pushes herself back up to a sitting position. 

“Sure dad,” she says, facing her sister, “Jade and I learned that the hard way.” She thinks, for a moment, that she might have gotten through to Jade- but then it doesn’t matter. There’s a flash of black and red and then Cheshire flies ten feet away. Kid Flash jumps and sprints towards Sportsmaster next, trying to tackle him too, but her dad is built like a linebacker and Wally is built like a runner. Sportsmaster tosses him as easily as he would a football. 

Wally hits the ground with a thud and Sportsmaster goes straight back to the fight. He swings his weapon so fast it looks like the blade of the helicopter, and Artemis feels her fear building again. She forces herself to her feet and runs for a moment. She forces her heartbeat to steady. 

_ She’s  _ in control. This isn’t like when she was a kid. They have a plan. She just has to distract Sportsmaster until they can implement it. 

Aqualad’s voice comes through the mental link:  _ Artemis, now!  _ She leaps as high as she can and grabs onto a branch. Then, the swampy quicksand spreads to the land underneath her feet, engulfing her father. She lets go, landing on Sportsmaster for a moment and using him as a jumping point to get back to solid land. She feels the smirk cross her face. 

Jade was  _ not  _ caught up in the quicksand, and she walks normally on the other side mucky mess Sportsmaster holds out a hand to her. 

“Jade!” The woman looks down on him, her mask unfeeling. 

“Sorry, dad,” she says, ripping off her mask so that he can  _ see  _ her smirk, “but in this family, it’s every girl for herself.” She puts her mask back on. 

“Jade!” he shouts, flailing in the muck. Jade just disappears into the darkness of the rain forest with her unfeeling mask, though Artemis knows it still hides a smirk underneath. Artemis walks over to her father and he looks up at her for a moment, wondering what she’ll do. Then she kicks him in the face. 

He doesn’t screech, or cry out, or make any noise at all. Lawrence Crock doesn’t give her the satisfaction. He just looks sadly down at the muck as his mask goes flying across the jungle. Artemis looks down at the slight footprint and the muck on his face and feels angry. It should have done something more than that. It should have broken the skin, or bruised worse or at least made him scream- something, at least. 

He’s supposed to look  _ broken.  _ She got her revenge.  _ Jade _ got her revenge. Shouldn’t there be some visual indication of that? She balls her hand into a fist, fingernails ripping into her palm. He doesn’t look hurt, or angry. He just looks sad. 

She should feel something,  _ anything.  _ It was supposed to feel good, but it didn’t. It just feels empty. Why wasn’t this satisfying? 

She hears footsteps behind her.  _ Wally.  _ She turns to Wally and sees him clutching Sportsmaster’s mask in his gloved hand. Then she glances back at her father, his head hanging. Now, without his mask Sportsmaster isn’t a boogeyman lurking in the night, he’s just her shitty father who hurt her for kicks. There’s something pathetic about that, really. Contemptible. Maybe knowing her dad isn’t worth getting revenge on is more satisfying than the revenge anyway. 

“Souvenir,” she says, sending Wally a smile. He holds the mask out for Artemis to take and then she holds it in her hands.  She used to be so afraid of this, but now she knows it’s just a normal hockey mask. What sort of supervillain chooses  _ sports  _ as their gimmick anyway? A laughable one. A pathetic one. 

“I think it’s perfect,” Wally says. Artemis doubts he understands the significance of this to her, but she knows he knows it’s big. That’s enough. They walk back together, Sportsmaster’s mask in hand, and they let Sportsmaster himself rot in the muck in a jungle on Santa Prisca. Artemis thinks that’s a fitting way to end this fight. 

“It _is_ always like this,” Rocket says with a hint of excitement as they walk up to the Team and join the rest of them in a circle.  Beside her, Shouto has his arms crossed over his chest, like he’s too cool for the situation, but Artemis can see the glint in his eyes. He had fun with this fight. 

“Crisis averted," Robin says, "feeling the aster.”

“Aster?” Shouto asks, brow furrowing in confusion. 

“Robin makes up bullshit words sometimes,” Artemis says, “you kinda just have to go with it.” 

“Hey!” Robin says, “no swearing on my Christian Minecraft server!” Shouto doesn’t look any less confused. 

“No offense but what the hell does that mean?” Rocket says. 

“I just said no swearing,” Robin says and Wally bursts into laughter. He speeds over between Shouto and Rocket and wraps an arm over each of their shoulders. 

“Welcome to the Team. Are you enjoying your stay?” 

“Hell yeah,” Rocket says, and Robin looks ready to stick to his “no swearing” joke again. Shouto frowns, though she can see the smile in his eyes. 

“The jury’s still out," he says. Zatanna smiles. 

“You like us!” she says. Shouto doesn’t say no, which means he's saying yes. Probably. 

“Not that I don’t like talking about how great we are,” Rocket says, “but it's still, ya know, Santa Prisca at night. This place gives me the creeps.” Aqualad nods, even though she doubts that Santa Prisca at night gives him the creeps. Her friend’s seen worse than the jungle at night. 

“Let us head back,” Aqualad says, inclining his head towards the bioship, “we have much to discuss and this is not the best place to do so.” Some of the members nod, some murmur their assent, but they all make their way back to the bioship. He’s right. They have a lot discuss. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter is shouto pov again, get hyped


End file.
